Should Christians oust Darwin? No.
There is no war between the “science” of faith, but the Christian faith is still defeated. Here’s why. Science is understandable. Faith is incomprehensible. The pits around the connection between faith and science are murky. Or so it turns out. Let’s see if we can clear the mud.
In fact, the so-called war between Faith և science is incomprehensible just by calling it a war. “War” offers 2 opponents. Of course, there is a war going on, but we can list at least 5 opponents. Creationism, intelligent design (ID), theological evolution, only science և materialism (science, atheism).
Evangelical Christians are quite familiar with creationism և ID, which affirms that God intervenes (miraculously) in the origin կյանքի history of life. At the other end spectrum:, materialists believe that there is no God to intervene. In the meantime, evolutionary theologians claim that God works in evolutionary processes without interference. Both Switzerland and Sweden, as well as laboratory scientists, are usually left out of the fight. Which army do you want to fight in now? (Peters 2005, diagram)
Creativity և clever design
The commander of the creative army is late Henry Morris (1918-2006): “Creation is true, evolution is false, true science confirms it” (Morris 1993, 308-309). What you do not hear in this battle cry is what Dr. Morris assumes, that is why scientific reasons, not biblical or theological reasons, that Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution is false. Dr. Morris is not unscientific. He actually got a doctorate. in the field of hydrology from the University of Michigan.
Here is the decisive point that the media’s LM և mockers miss. The scientific creationist thinks that he is striving for good science. Evolutionary theory, according to creationists, does not meet real scientific standards. One can be a creationist, be against evolution, at the same time doing all the other sciences – mathematics, physics, biology, etc.
This observation also applies to the school of intelligent design (ID). “The work of intelligent design, like other scientific theories, is based on empirical evidence, not religious dogma,” said the ID spokesman. Steven S. Meyer (Mayer 2009, 403). Consequently, the murky water obscures the proponents of Creationism և ID as biblical irritants who oppose anti-science.
True true science vs. science
So why is it so widely believed that creationists and ID’ers are anti-science? This is where the mess lies. Both creationists and ID’ers are against materialism. Materialism is like appearance, but in reality it is an ideology that aspires to science as an authority. The problem is not science. Rather, it is science in the form of atheistic materialism, which requires support from science.
“Science is a philosophical concept that refuses to accept the validity of any knowledge other than the positive sciences,” says Pope John Paul II. “And it transfers religious, theological, ethical and aesthetic knowledge to the realm of pure fantasy” (Pap 1998). Scholars of “faith” research as he avoids science while accepting the science itself. When this is clear, the turbid water will begin to clear.
Make no mistake, I’m not a member of either creationist or ID clubs. But if we do not understand their self-consciousness, we can not perceive one undeniable fact. No one in the war against Darwin is unscientific.
Theological evolution
I attend theological evolutionist barbecues, especially picnics involving writers. Clergy Letter Project who sponsor Evolution Weekend every February. Why? Because the evolutionary framework is so widely accepted by our working scientists that it would not be irrational to bypass it. Faith ‘n’ science complements each other like burgers ‘n’ potatoes.
To be clear on another point. I do not advise Christians to swallow Darwinian evolution without chewing thoroughly. I do not recommend making evolution 4th: article on the religions of our trinity. You should not believe in: evolution. However, a believer can honestly rely on evolutionary concepts to explain the history of Mother Nature.
In other words, I do not ask creationists or ID’ers to evolve. Evolution is by no means an article of faith. However, it would be good for creationists and ID’ers to immediately stop judging and accept the evolutionary framework as a hypothesis.
Even the natural selection hypothesis is clear for the data. What Theodosius Dobzhansky said in 1973 is still applicable today. “Nothing makes sense in biology except in the light of evolution” (Dobzhansky 1973). Even prominent evangelical geneticists Francis Collins synthesizes his belief in Jesus Christ with Darwinian evolution. “No serious biologist today doubts the theory of evolution that explains the amazing complexity and diversity of life” (Collins 2006, 99).
Leaving aside, Celia Dean-Drummond of Oxford University would correct my vocabulary. No matter what we call our school of thought, this is the most important thing. For the Christian faith seeking understanding within the world of science, evolutionary categories pave the way for faith to build an understandable worldview (Biology, etc.) (Project nd).
Christian love for the incompatible
Christian hostility to evolution should not be directed at a laboratory scientist or a field researcher. Or even Darwin, in that matter. But, there is a problem that prevents us from swallowing evolution as we swallow our morning vitamin pills. What is that problem? Natural evil.
The problem that a Christian theologian must reveal in public speech is this. The nature of life, told by Darwin, is full of violent struggles for life. The collision of predators is blood in the “claws” of teeth, as the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson rightly noted (Tennyson 1850, Canto 56). Therefore, it follows that society should not build an ethic based on evolutionary principles, especially the safest survival. Christian morality inspires love for unworthy people.
The morality of Christ, based on the example of Jesus, does not celebrate the victory of the bully over the slain, the eater over the swallowed, the new species over the extinct. Rather, Christian morality cares for the weak, the lame, the sick, and the victims of bullying. When it comes to surviving the strongest, the Christian’s compassion turns his attention to the useless.
Conclusion
Should Christians oust Darwin? No.
Let us take 1 Peter 3:15 as our motto. “Honor Christ in your hearts as Lord. Always be prepared to respond to anyone who asks you to give them the reason for your hope. But do it with gentleness and respect. ”
With this motto, Christian Sunday school teachers and systematic theologians should purify the turbid water. Only if the water is clear can believers make their faith clear. Clarify the following.
- There is no war between science and faith because no one is unscientific. Those who mock the Christian faith do not represent science. they represent science, the ideology of materialism.
- No one should treat evolution as an article of faith, although everyone should treat evolution as a protein scientific theory.
- Some of us theologians, particularly evolutionary theologians, provide understandable, insightful explanations of the gospel (Draft, Weekend of Evolution, etc.).
- Christians must strongly oppose any attempt to build a social ethic based on the most secure example of existence.
As we make these clarifying statements, let us do so “with gentleness and respect.”
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Ted is an Honorary Professor of Ethics in Systematic Theology at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in the Pacific, Berkeley, California. He is the editor of the magazine, Theology և science Center for Theology and Natural Sciences. Ted and his colleague, evolutionary biologist and virologist Martinez Hewlett, have written or compiled four books on the so-called war on evolution. (1) Evolution from creation to new creation (2003); (2) Can you believe in God և of evolution? (2008); (3) The evolution of evil (2008); և (4) T:Theological և scientific commentary on the origin of Darwin species (2009): Visit TedsTimelyTake.com.
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